Printing apparatuses that print by applying ink onto a recording medium have been used in the related art (for example, refer to PTL 1). The printing apparatus disclosed in PTL 1 is provided with a transport unit that transports a recording medium, nozzles (an ink jet head) that discharge ink onto the recording medium, which is transported, a fabric thickness detection unit that detects a height of a recording surface of the recording medium transported by the transport unit, and a movement unit that changes the height of the nozzles depending on a height position of the recording surface of the fabric detected by the fabric thickness detection unit.
In such a printing apparatus, for example, in a case of performing printing on recording medium such as a fabric with a comparatively large amount of fluff, a distance between the recording medium and the nozzles is comparatively increased by raising and the nozzles by an amount that is equivalent to the amount of the fluff. As a result of this, it is possible to avoid a circumstance in which the fluff comes into contact with the nozzles.
However, as the distance between the nozzle head and the recording medium is increased, there is a problem in that discharged ink does not land in a desired position on the recording medium. It is thought that the reason for this is that the volume of a single droplet of ink, which is discharged from the nozzles, is extremely small, and therefore, may even be subjected to the effects of a slight aerial current.
In this manner, in printing apparatuses of the related art, there is a problem in that printing precision (printing quality) decreases as a separation distance between the nozzles, and the recording medium is increased.